Bhuvneshwar Kumar admitted that India did lose their way in between on Day 1 but it was a situation that they anticipated. “Amazing day. That’s how Test cricket is,” he said in a televised interview after Stumps, “We started really well and lost our way in between. We could have bowled a little better, but we gave away 25-30 runs extra. You expect that against South Africa.”

Bhuvneshwar helped India hit the ground running, taking the wicket of Dean Elgar in the first over of the day. He went on to dismiss Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla to peg Australia back in the early part of Day 1. His fourth wicket of the day was Quinton De Kock. “I just wanted to bowl in good areas. I knew it doesn’t swing too much in South Africa so I bowled in the right areas and tried to get them caught behind. Every batsman is vulnerable outside off. It’s a decent wicket but there were some overs where we gave away 3-4 boundaries and we have to change that in the next innings.”

After the wicket of Amla, AB De Villiers pegged back the Indians with a counter-attacking knock with assistance from Faf Du Plessis. “AB is best in the world. His counter-attack hurt us. It’s going to be tough. We knew this is a kind of situation we’d have to tackle.”